Future Guides Mentored in the Tongass

Tongass Guide Academy helps Angoon residents train for sustainable jobs showcasing the island’s natural resources. Read about the great work they’re doing with Trout Unlimited’s support.

Story by Matt Boline & Photos by Trout Unlimited Alaska

Bristol Bay Fly Fishing and Guide Academy was created to provide local indigenous youth with work force development opportunities for sustainable outdoor employment. In the past 15 academies, the program has turned out 183 graduates with approximately 25 of them holding full-time, seasonal employment at lodges in Bristol Bay.

The success of this program caught the attention of several other Alaska regions searching for the same education and employment opportunities for their youth; this year marked the first time the Guide Academy model was applied elsewhere.

Alaska abundance

Southeast Alaska’s Admiralty Island has over 1,600 square miles of old-growth temperate rainforest teeming with abundant populations of salmon, deer, bears, and eagles. The island is known as Kootznoowoo to its Indigenous Tlingit Peoples, meaning “fortress of the bears.” The island hosts the highest density of brown bears (estimated to be 1,600 or one per square mile) in North America. There is only one human settlement on the island—the Tlingit community of Angoon—home to approximately 450 people, which means the island’s bears outnumber people three to one.

The Kootznoowoo Tlingit people settled here due to rich saltwater and freshwater subsistence opportunities and the ease of access to hunting, fishing, and gathering. With all five species of Pacific salmon native to North America, bottomfish, and shellfish in abundance and boasting beautiful weather, Angoon is a fish-lover’s paradise.

Building Business- The Tongass Guide Academy

Kootznoowoo, Inc., the Alaska Native Village Corporation that works to bring economic benefits to its shareholders in Angoon and beyond, sought to create their own Guide Academy. The idea is to ensure residents of Angoon have the training necessary to seek sustainable employment opportunities that take advantage of the island’s incredible fish, wildlife, and scenic resources. They then reached out to Trout Unlimited, who has been a key program partner for Bristol Bay’s Guide Academy for the past 14 years. Over several months of planning, a strong relationship was formed between the two organizations, and The Tongass Guide Academy was born.

Over three days, Guide Academy students learned about tying flies, flycasting, fishing, and skills in work readiness and customer service. The academy was capped off with a fishing trip in prolific sea-run cutthroat trout waters in the Tongass.

Empowering Angoon’s Future

As TU’s southeast Alaska engagement manager and a former fishing guide, it was a natural fit for me to serve as the head instructor for the Tongass Guide Academy. It is next to impossible for a visitor to go unnoticed in Angoon. A non-local usually gets everyone talking, “Oh, you’re the guy who’s here to teach kids about flyfishing,” was frequently heard while I walked around town. Everywhere I went, I was met with support from the local community. This support has already prompted the planning for 2025.

Angoon plans to expand offerings for small cruise ships in the future. Freshwater flyfishing, bear viewing, saltwater fishing, and cultural tours are just some of the options that will be available. The recently formed Angoon Native Forest Partnership will also soon be taking on valuable restoration projects beginning with nearby Cube Cove to remove fish barriers allowing trout and salmon to reach the full range of their habitat. This will provide access to spawning and rearing habitat that will positively impact the local salmon population and the people.

These investments in both their habitats and people are helping to ensure the people, fish, and wildlife on Kootznoowoo thrive and have a long, sustainable future.

Trout Unlimited’s mission is to protect, reconnect, and restore North America’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds. Learn about our work in Alaska by following @TroutUnlimitedAlaska on Facebook and Instagram. Matt Boline is the southeast Alaska engagement manager for Trout Unlimited.

For more conservation reading, check out Fish Alaska’s Conservation Blog for more.